Seventy-one years ago, famous Peking Opera artist Mei Lanfang (1894-1961) was invited to pay his first visit to Russia where he performed in Moscow and St Petersburg for three weeks.

During the tour, Mei met the renowned Russian dramatist Konstantin Sergeyevich Stanislavsky and German dramatist Bertolt Brecht, who was exiled to Russia during the Nazi reign. Both Stanislavsky and Brecht appreciated Mei's performance.

Now, more than seven decades later, Berlin's House of World Cultures has invited the Beijing Peking Opera Company to perform a five-scene "dramatic poem" based on the life of Mei Lanfang in Germany.

The performance of Mei Lanfang, which will be held at the Komische Oper Berlin (Comedy Opera) today and tomorrow, will feature the Komische Oper orchestra and the Ernst Senff Choir alongside 10 Chinese instrumentalists.

China's Peking Opera companies often tour abroad, but this is the first time that a Western orchestra will accompany the full-length Peking Opera play with a Germany choir singing in Chinese.

Wang Yuzhen, president of the Beijing Peking Opera Company said the Berlin tour of the production was "unique, both because of its content and eponymous hero, Mei Lanfang, and because of the unprecedented co-operation between China and the West."

The cooperation project between the Komische Oper Berlin, the House of World Culture and the Beijing Peking Opera Company is a major programme of Festival China Between Past and Future, presented by the House of World Culture to showcase traditions, historical breaks and the latest developments within art.

The festival offers a chance to experience how one of the world's most important countries is dealing with rapid social and cultural changes. The programmes examine the development of new forms and new individual languages in fine arts, music, opera and literature, as well as their relationship with China's fascinating traditions.

The Beijing Peking Opera Company commissioned director Chen Xinyi to create the play in 2004 to commemorate the 110th anniversary of Mei's birth and it premiered at Beijing's Grand Chang'an Theatre in May that year.

Chen calls it a "dramatic poem" because it is a play without a highly dramatic or intriguing plot, featuring rather a number of scenes centred around a leading role.

"The lines are poetic, the general atmosphere is poetic and the play as a whole reads like a poem of several parts," she said.

Mei, who was born into a famous family of opera singers in 1894, was not only one of the most important figures in Peking Opera, but also played an important part in its revival.

Enchanted critics such as Stanislavsky, Maxim Gorki and Rabindranath Tagore is testimony to the fascination of Mei's role-play held on audiences throughout the world.

Like Mei's work itself, the current production is a much-discussed example in China of traditional forms translated into contemporary music and stage language.

Chen admits that it's a challenging task to display Mei's life, achievements and personality in a two-hour play.

"I do not think we could adequately portray his character by telling his story from birth to death. So I came up with the idea of the 'dramatic poem,' picking some of the most impressive scenes from Mei's career and life and connecting them to reveal his attitudes, personality and spirit," she said.

"Today, we feel honoured and have the responsibility to bring such a play about (Mei) to the Western world," said Chen.

Conductor Hu Bingxu went to Berlin to rehearse with the orchestra and choir in March. He says that it's by no means easy for a Western orchestra to catch the rhythm and melody of Peking Opera but the German musicians showed great interest, high discipline and worked very hard.

"It's interesting to work with foreign musicians on Peking Opera and I believe the performance will be a great success," says the veteran conductor who is well-known for conducting symphony orchestras accompanying Chinese folk operas.

(China Daily April 27, 2006)